Fingernail guard



June 23, 1942.

B. T. POWERS ETAL FINGERNAI'L- GUARD Filed Feb. 26, 1940 INVENTORS rZ'Pawzzzs BER EHD .EL'JIL PA 000K BY A Patented June 23, 1942 E UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE Francisco, Calif., assigno rs'to P. & P.Manufacturing Company, Emeryville, cam, a corporation of CaliforniaApplication February 26, 1940, Serial No. 320,859

10 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in toilet accessories and hasparticular reference to a device in the form of a shield for the fingersof the hand capable of encircling any o-fthe selected fingers andserving to confine a tinted or polished solution entirely to the.surface of the fingernail, thus preventing the solution from .contactingor soiling the flesh of the finger during the act of ornamenting thefingernail to enhance its appearance.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of means wherebythe shield will automatically adjust itself to types of fingers thatvary in length and thickness.

An additional object of the invention is the provision of a shield thatis economical and simple in construction by virtue of the employment ofa single sheet of Celluloid from which the shield is formed.

An additional object of the invention is the utilization in the shieldof a support that will bring the fingernail into an exposed positionwhereby it may be. ornamentally decorated in an efficient andexpeditious manner.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent during the course of thefollowing description.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification and inwhich like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout thesame,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the shield constructed in accordance with ourinvention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section through the shield, the viewbeing vtakenon the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and showing to advantage thesupport for the finger during the painting operation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a similar view taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1, disclosing toadvantage the rivet that acts as a means for adjusting the shield;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the shield;

Fig, '5 isa longitudinal vertical section through the shield, the Viewbeing taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view, disclosing the bent margin adjacent,the opening by which the fingernail is exposed for treatment;

Fig. '7 a plan .view of the shield, showing the shape of the cut blankfrom which the appliance is made; and

Fig. 8 is a top .plan view of the shield, disclosing the fingerpositioned therein with the exposed fingernail in position forornamentation.

The practice of .decorating or ornamenting fingernails is well-known. Agreat deal of difiiculty has been experienced in painting the nails dueto the fact that the solution utilized in painting the fingernails oftencontacts the flesh of the finger, thus soiling the same and producing anuntidy appearance. Therefore, to provide a means whereby a fingernailmay be expeditiously treated withoutdanger of the solution running orcontacting the flesh of the finger, we have produced the presentinvention.

In the accompanying drawing wherein for the purpose of illustration isshown a preferred embodiment of our invention, it is to be noted that asingle sheet of Celluloid is utilized, and a stamping operation isresorted to to leave an irregular shaped blank, as shown. in Fig. '7.

Broadly stated, the said blankembodies a main body portion 9, side walls[0 and II, and an intermediate extension l2 so that when the side wallsare bentand the extension turned inwardly and a special interlockingaction and fastening means are resorted to, as will be hereinafter fullyexplained, a shield, such as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 8, will beproduced.

In the side wall In and adjacent the upper marginal edge thereof we haveprovided an arcuate slot l-3 which has spaced therefrom a rivet hole Min the side wall I l, and adjacent the lower marginal edge thereofspaced openings l6 are formed that cooperate with the acuate slot [3 andthe rivet hole l4 when the said walls are folded one upon the other toreceive therein rivets l1 and I8, and, thus, there is provided, asdisclosed in Figs. 4 and 5, an elongated tubular formation of the bodyand side walls capable of receiving therein a fingernail A that is to beornamented.

To provide a support for the finger C during the treatment of the nailthereof and to retain the nail in a fixed position in the aperture l9formed between the'two side walls, we propose to bend the extension uponitself, as disclosed in Fig. 5. It will be noted that a tongue 20 isprovided on the free end of the extension l2, and this tongue, when thesaid extension is folded, will be received and retained in lockedposition in an elongated slot 21 formed in the body 9.

By virtue of the construction employed and due to the inherentflexibility of the Celluloid, a yielding support is provided for theinserted finger. The tendency of the extension to ex- .pand will causethe nail to be retained in the exact operative position in the aperturel9, and

likewise the yielding and flexible nature of the Celluloid will permitan easy insertion of the fin- .55 ger to be treated or a readywithdrawal of the finger from the shield after the nail of the fingerhas been ornamented. Thus, there will be no danger of a smearing of thesolution on the fingernail during the act of withdrawing the finger fromthe shield.

To compensate for various widths or thicknesses of fingers, we haveemployed what may be termed a pivotal arrangement of the respectiverivets in the rivet holes and the arcuate slot. Accordingly, the nail ofthe little finger as well as nails of the other fingers and of the thumbcan be readily treated without the use of separate shields for therespective fingers. It will be obvious that when the little finger isinserted, there will be no expansion of the side walls of the shield,unless the little finger is of unusually large dimensions. On the otherhand, when one of the other fingers is inserted, the lateral movement ofthe side walls, due to the pivotal arrangement employed, will allow thelarger fingers or thumb to be placed inoperative position within theaperture [9.

In the respective views of the drawing and particularly in Fig. 6, wehave disclosed to advantage the side marginal edges 22 of the walls land II as lying in a plane below the plane of the side walls. Thus abarrier or a retarding medium is presented that prevents the liquid fromcontacting the flesh of the finger during the ornamenting operation,and, accordingly, the paint is confined to the exposed surface of thefingernail. The well-known practice of softening and then tempering theCelluloid by the subjection of the same to submersion in hot and coldwater is resorted to toposition the marginal edges, as illustrated inFig. 6.

In practice, after the tubular shield or guard has been 'formed, aspreviously explained, the finger B is inserted in the shield so that thenail A assumes the position, as illustrated in Fig. 8. The finger isthen slightly bent and the ornamenting operation performed.

When it is desired to withdraw the finger, the bent or folded flexibleextension is slightly depressed, and the finger with its painted nailcan be readily withdrawn without danger of smearing the paint on thenail by contact of the same with the body of the guard.

It is to be understood that the form of our invention herewith shown anddescribed is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and thatvarious changes relative to the material, size, shape and arrangement ofparts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of theinvention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a device of the character described comprising a main body portionhaving a pair of side walls recessed to provide an aperture to exposethe nail of a finger to be ornamented, an extension formed integral withsaid main body portion and folded upon itself to provide a resilientsupport for the finger, and pivotal means carried by said body forconfining the ornamenting medium to the fingernail being treated.

2. In a device of the character described comprising a main body portionhaving a pair of side Walls recessed to provide an aperture to exposethe nail of a finger to be ornamented, an extension formed integral withsaid main body portion and folded upon itself to provide a resilientsupport for the finger, means carried by said body for confining theornamenting medium to the fingernail being treated, and pivotal meanspermitting lateral adjustment of said side walls.

3. In a device of the character described comprising a main body portionhaving side walls recessed to provide an aperture to expose the nail ofa finger to be ornamented, an extension carried by said main bodyportion and being folded upon itself to provide a resilient support forthe finger, and pivotal means permitting lateral adjustment of said sidewalls.

4. A fingernail guard of the character described comprising a Celluloidmember capable of fitting around a finger and forming an opening toexpose the nail of a finger to be ornamented, a resilient element formedintegral With the member and adapted to press against the bottom side ofthe finger to retain the fingernail in an adjusted position in saidopening and means for securing the free end of said resilient element tosaid Celluloid member.

5. A fingernail guard of the character described comprising a normallyfiat member capable of fitting around a finger and overlapping thereonand forming an opening to expose the nail of a finger to be ornamented,and means for connecting the overlapped portions together to permitlateral movement of the same with relation to the inserted finger.

6. A fingernail guard of the character described comprising a normallyfiat member capable of fitting around a finger and overlapping thereonand forming an opening to expose the nail of a finger to be ornamented,means for connecting the overlapped portions together to permit lateralmovement of the same with relation to the inserted finger, and anextension formed integral with said member and being folded upon itselfto provide a resilient support for the finger.

7. In a device of the character described comprising a body adapted toreceive therein a finger and equipped with an aperture to expose thenail of the finger to be ornamented, and an elongated support carried bysaid body and adapted to press against the bottom portion of the fingerto retain the nail in a fixed position with relation to the aperture andmeans for retaining the said support in locked relation with said body.

8. A device of the character described made from a single piece ofmaterial comprising a main body portion and pivotally arrangedoverlapping side walls defining an aperture for exposing the nail of afinger to be ornamented, and means carried by said body portion toretain the nail in a fixed position relative to the aperture.

9. A device of the character described made from a single piece ofmaterial comprising a main body portion and pivotally arrangedoverlapping side walls defining an aperture for exposing the nail of afinger to be ornamented, means carried by said body portion to retainthe nail in a fixed position relative to the aperture, and means formedintegral with said body for confining the ornamenting medium to thefingernail.

10. A device of the character described made from a single piece ofmaterial comprising a main body portion and pivotally arranged sidewalls defining an aperture for exposing the nail of a finger to beornamented, means carried by said body portion to retain the nail in afixed position in the aperture, and means formed integral with said bodyportion for confining the ornamenting medium to the fingernail.

BERNERD T. POWERS. CECIL PADDOCK.

